Alvaneu

Alvaneu (Romansh: Alvagni) is a village and former municipality in the district of Albula in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. On 1 January 2015 the former municipalities of Alvaschein, Mon, Stierva, Tiefencastel, Alvaneu, Brienz/Brinzauls and Surava merged to form the new municipality of Albula/Alvra.^[1]

Alvaneu
Former municipality
Coat of arms
Location of Alvaneu
Alvaneu Show map of Switzerland Alvaneu Show map of Canton of Graubünden
Coordinates: 46°41′N 9°39′E
Country	Switzerland
Canton	Graubünden
District	Albula
Government
• Mayor	Thomas Kollegger
Area
• Total	35.68 km2 (13.78 sq mi)
Elevation	1,181 m (3,875 ft)
Population  (2006)
• Total	419
• Density	12/km2 (30/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (Central European Time)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (Central European Summer Time)
Postal code(s)	7492
SFOS number	3511
ISO 3166 code	CH-GR
Surrounded by	Arosa, Brienz/Brinzauls, Filisur, Lantsch/Lenz, Schmitten, Surava, Tiefencastel
Website	www.albula-alvra.ch SFSO statistics

On 20 March 2007 Peter Martin Wettler, a media expert and resident of Zurich was appointed Prince of Belfort by the village's authorities.^[2]

History

Alvaneu is first mentioned in 1244 as Aluenude. In 1530 it was mentioned as Allweneü.^[3]

Geography

Belfort castle ruins near Alvaneu

Aerial view from 2300 m by Walter Mittelholzer (1925)

Before the merger, Alvaneu had a total area of 35.7 km² (13.8 sq mi).^[4] Of this area, 27% is used for agricultural purposes, while 32.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (38.2%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).^[4]

The former municipality is located in the Belfort sub-district of the Albula district. It is located on a terrace above the Albula river. It consists of the village of Alvaneu (Alvaneu-Dorf) and Alvaneu-Bad on the valley floor. The municipality also included the settlement of Aclas d'Alvagni as well as the alpine settlements of Creusch and Ramoz.

Demographics

Alvaneu had a population (as of 2013) of 403.^[4] As of 2007^[update], 7.6% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has decreased at a rate of -6.2%.^[4]

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 42% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CVP (25.1%), the SPS (22.8%) and the FDP (7.9%).^[4]

In Alvaneu about 69.7% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).^[4]

Alvaneu has an unemployment rate of 0.27%. As of 2005^[update], there were 43 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 16 businesses involved in this sector. 37 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 4 businesses in this sector. 124 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 23 businesses in this sector.^[4]

The historical population is given in the following table:^[3][5]

year	population
1838	362
1850	354
1880	314
1900	382
1930	441
1950	475
1960	396
1970	421
1980	379
1990	380
2000	407

Languages

The traditional language of the population until the middle of the 19th century was Romansh. However, in 1880, only 80.1% of the inhabitants spoke Romansch as their native language. This erosion continued (1910: 68.06%, 1941: 56.0%, 1970: 47.03%). 1960 was the last census that counted a Romansch-speaking majority.

Languages in Alvaneu

Language	Census of 1980		Census of 1990		Census of 2000
	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage
German	189	49.87%	230	60.53%	308	76.43%
Romansh	157	41.42%	109	28.68%	68	16.87%
Italian	30	7.92%	28	7.37%	14	3.47%
Population	379	100%	380	100%	403	100%

Although 31% still speak some Romansch, German is now the only official language for municipality business.

Most of the population (as of 2000^[update]) speaks German (76.4%), with Rhaeto-Romance being second most common (16.9%) and Italian being third ( 3.5%).^[4]